The present invention generally relates to apparatus and methods for combating piracy and, more particularly, to content identification.
The ability to securely distribute content and control access thereto, be it a movie, a song, a picture, the written word, etc., is of paramount importance to those who have a vested interest in the content such as the copyright holders, creators, licensees, etc. As such, with respect to film (e.g., a movie) it is known to “fingerprint” film copies such that the possible source of any subsequent copies—legal or illegal—can be identified. In this regard, a big problem with film distribution is found in the final shipping of, what amounts to, thousands of copies (“release prints”) to the theaters that will show a single title. In particular, when a company is contracted to mass-produce these thousands of release prints, the company is provided with a master print in film form, from which duplicates are made through contact printing. Unfortunately, building a unique fingerprint on each release print during the contact printing stage is a problem of both mechanics and cost.